4H1659 4ANIMAL DIGESTION ACTIVITY

A Stomach At Work

Skill Level: Overview:


Beginner to intermediate The Animal Digestion – A Stomach At Work lesson is designed to teach
young people about animal digestion. Participants will complete an
Life Skills: activity in which they “digest” a slice of bread the way their stomachs

Critical thinking, decision-making and
would. They’ll also discuss the basic differences in how various species
problem-solving
of livestock digest feed. In the interactive lesson, they’ll also learn the
Setting: importance of acids to the process of digestion.
 outdoor or indoor space with a
An
Objectives:
supply station and an easy to clean
After completing this activity, participants will be able to:
floor; seating is optional.

Discuss how digestive acids break down carbohydrates.
Time: 
Explain the difference between monogastric and ruminant animals.

20–30 minutes
Materials:
❏❏Resealable plastic sandwich bags
PROCEDURE:
(one per participant plus one for Before the meeting:
demonstration) 1. Review the lesson and gather any supplies you will need. Make one
❏❏Sliced white bread (one piece per copy of “The Basics of the Ruminant Digestive System” resource
participant plus one for demonstration) sheet per person (optional).
❏❏2-liter bottles of orange juice or cola
(about one bottle per 15 participants) 2. Place one piece of white bread in a resealable plastic sandwich
❏❏3-ounce disposable cups (one per bag and fill one 3-ounce cup with orange juice or cola for each
participant)
participant. Set the sandwich bags and filled cups out on the
❏❏Paper towels (one sheet per participant
and enough for clean-up)
supply station.
❏❏Flipchart or other large paper 3. Write the following definition of the word “digestion” on a sheet of
❏❏Markers
flipchart paper and display it where everyone can see it, but keep it
❏❏Easel or display space
❏❏Masking tape covered until the appropriate point in the lesson.
❏❏Clock or stopwatch
Digestion is the process of breaking down food in the mouth, stom-
❏❏Large trash bag (one or more
depending on the size of your group)
ach, intestines and other organs so that it can be used by the body.
❏❏“The Basics of the Ruminant Digestive 4. (Optional) On a sheet of flipchart paper, sketch a sandwich bag, a
System” resource sheet (one per
slice of bread and a bottle of juice or cola. Label them “stomach,”
participant, optional)
“food” and “stomach acid,” respectively, then hang the paper up
where the group can see it.

5. Recruit one or more teen or adult volunteers to help with the activity.

During the meeting:

1. Introduce the activity by pointing out to the group the [optional]
flipchart paper with the labeled sketches of the sandwich bag, slice
of bread and bottle of juice or cola on it, then reading aloud or
paraphrasing the following:

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Today we’re going to make model stomachs and
“digest” slices of bread in them so we can observe
the digestion process. A little later we’ll also learn
about the two main digestive systems of livestock
animals: the monogastric or simple digestive sys-
tem and the ruminant or complex digestive system.
2. Ask for volunteers to explain what the word “di-
gestion” means. Record the answers on flipchart
paper, then display the paper where everyone can
see it. After everyone has had a chance to answer
who wants to, uncover and discuss with the group
the definition of “digestion” that you wrote on the
flipchart sheet before the meeting.
3. Now ask the group why the digestion process is im-
portant to animals. (So they can absorb and use the
nutrients in the food they eat to build blood, bone,
muscles, organs, nerves and other cell types. So
they can maintain or increase their weight. So they
can use the nutrients for energy to move and think
and perform other tasks.) Discuss and record their
answers on flipchart paper and display the sheet
where everyone can see it.
4. Give each person one of the bags with a piece of
white bread in it. Explain to the group that in this
activity, the bag will act like a stomach – a muscle
that contains and squeezes the food (in this case,
the bread) to break it down.
5. Now have them take turns bringing their plastic bag
stomachs to the supply station to pick up a cup of
orange juice or cola to pour into their bags. Explain
that the liquid will play the part of the digestive
juices in their model stomachs – that is, the stomach
acid and enzymes that react chemically with the
food in the stomach.
6. Once they’ve all combined the bread and the fluid
in their plastic bag stomachs, tell them to carefully
observe what is starting to happen to the bread.
7. Have the adult or teen volunteers you recruited
earlier work with the participants to ensure that all
of the plastic bag stomachs are tightly sealed. If the
seal on any bag seems questionable, or if a bag has
a hole in it, have them seal the entire bag (with its
contents still inside) into another plastic bag.
8. Now ask the group the following questions:
 What is happening inside of your model
stomach? (The bread is absorbing the liquid,
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4ANIMAL DIGESTION ACTIVITY
turning color and getting mushy. It may be
breaking apart.)
 What do you think might happen if you squeezed
your model stomach for a little while? (The bread
will break into smaller pieces. The bread will be
squished.)
9. Give one piece of paper towel to every participant.
Tell them to wrap the paper towel around their
model stomachs so that they cannot see what is
happening inside.
10. Now tell them that on your signal, they will act as
the muscles for their model stomachs by gently
squeezing their towel-covered bags for 2 min-
utes. Emphasize that they need to keep the towels
wrapped around their bags and be gentle to avoid
poking holes in them. Have a volunteer keep track of
the time.
11. While the participants are using their model
stomach muscles, ask them the following questions:
 Do humans have monogastric or ruminant
digestive systems? (Monogastric or simple.)
 What does monogastric mean? (“Mono”
means “one” or “single,” and “gastric” means
“stomach” or “related to the stomach,” so
“monogastric” means “one stomach” or “one
stomach compartment.”)
 Name one livestock species that has a stomach
that is similar to the human stomach. (Swine and
rabbits.)
 Do sheep have monogastric or ruminant
digestive systems? Cows? (Ruminant.)
 What does “ruminant” mean? (“To chew over
again.”)
 What is the biggest difference between the
ruminant and monogastric digestive systems?
(Ruminant stomachs have four compartments,
and monogastric stomachs have only one
compartment. Ruminants are able to digest
grasses and other fibrous feeds better than
animals with monogastric systems can. Ruminant
animals are able to do this because they chew
their food several times through a process
of regurgitation and rumination that is more
familiarly called “chewing their cud.”)
12. When the timekeeper indicates that the participants
have been squeezing their model stomachs for 2

minutes, tell them to remove the paper towels and
– without opening the bags! – observe the changes
to the contents. After they’ve had a moment to
observe and think about the changes, ask the group
the following questions:
 What caused the changes to the bread? (The
mechanical action of squeezing and the chemical
breakdown of the bread fibers by the acids in the
liquid.)
 Would the change have been different if the
liquid we added was just water? Why or why not?
(Yes, because it is the acids in the orange juice or
cola that accelerate the breakdown process.)
 How is animal digestion similar to what we did
with our model stomachs? (An animal’s stomach
churns and squeezes and breaks down its
contents in nearly the same way that we churned
and squeezed and broke down the bread in our
model stomachs. The acidic fluid – the orange
juice or cola – we added to our model stomachs
reacted chemically with the bread in them, just
as real stomach acid reacts chemically with the
contents of the stomach.)
13. Now have a volunteer collect the sealed model
stomachs in a trash bag. Have other volunteers clean
up any other messes.
14. Next have the group stand in a straight line facing
you. Tell them they’re going to review the basic
steps in the digestion process in monogastric
animals. Ask them to imagine that a pig has just
eaten a mouthful of grain, then ask the first person
in the line “What happens to the food next?” (Note:
You may want to record their answers for each step
on flipchart paper to help the group keep track of
where they are in the process.)
15. Move down the line, asking each person in turn
“What happens to the food next?” (Note: The rough
outline of the digestion process that follows will help
you prompt any participant who isn’t sure.)
a. The animal takes a bite of food.
b. The food mixes with saliva in the animal’s mouth
and is chewed by the teeth until is in small
enough bits to be swallowed.
c. The food then moves down the esophagus to the
stomach, where it is churned and digestive acids
begin to break it down.
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4ANIMAL DIGESTION ACTIVITY
d. Then the food travels to the small intestine,
which absorbs most of the nutrients in it.
e. Next the food enters the cecum, a sac between
the small and large intestines that contains
enzymes that help break down plant material.
(Note: Younger and less experienced groups
probably won’t be familiar with the cecum, so
you’ll most likely have to tell them about this
step.)
f. Next stop is the large intestine, which absorbs
most of the water in the food.
g. Finally, what’s left of the food moves through the
rectum and exits through the anus.
16. Once the group has reached the end of the line, so
to speak, read aloud or paraphrase the following:
The process of digestion in ruminants is similar to
the process in monogastric animals. As we learned
before, though, ruminant stomachs have four
compartments, which helps ruminants digest plant
material much more efficiently than monogastric
animals can.
Another interesting difference is that ruminants
chew their cuds. Does anyone know what it means
when someone says a ruminant like a cow is “chew-
ing its cud”? (It means the cow has belched up a
clump of food called a “bolus,” from the first stom-
ach compartment, the rumen, and is chewing it
again to break apart the plant fibers some more.)
After the food leaves the rumen, it moves to the
other chambers, which are, in order, the reticulum,
the omasum and the abomasum.
17. Refer to the “Basics of the Ruminant Digestive
System” resource sheet for explanations of the
functions of each of the ruminant stomach com-
partments. Share the level of information from the
resource sheet that you feel is appropriate for the
ages and experience levels of your group.
18. Next divide the group into four equal teams, then
assign each team a compartment of the ruminant
stomach. Tell the teams they’ll have 30 seconds to
come up with the word or phrase that is most rep-
resentative of the stomach compartment they were
assigned.
19. After 30 seconds, or when the teams seem to have
settled on their descriptive words, tell them you’re
3

going to point to each team in the order of where
their assigned stomach compartment falls in the
digestion process. Explain that when you point to
a team, you want them to yell the name of their
stomach compartment and the word or phrase they
chose to describe it. For example:
 Rumen = fermentation
 Reticulum = honeycomb
 Omasum = many folds
 Abomasum = mixes
ADAPTATIONS & EXTENSIONS:
 Older or More Advanced Participants: If your
group includes a mix of ages and experience levels,
have the older or more experienced members
partner with the younger or less experienced
participants.
 Older or More Advanced Participants: Challenge
the group to write out each stage of the ruminant
digestion process from the perspective of a piece
of grass being eaten by a cow.
 Younger or Less Experienced Participants: Make
a card to represent each organ or step in the
digestive system of a monogastric animal. Have
each participant choose a card and then have
the group work together to arrange themselves
and their cards in the correct spots in line in the
digestive system.
 Use an app such as Nearpod to create brief
interactive mobile presentations that participants
could use anywhere they have Internet access. You
could tailor presentations to supplement the work
the group is doing during meetings or to prepare
background information on specific topics for the
group to review before a meeting. (Note: “Apps”
are small computer programs that are usually
optimized for use on mobile devices such as smart
phones and tablets that have relatively small
screens.)
 Distribute copies of “The Basics of the Ruminant
Digestive System” resource sheet for participants
to take home with them.
 Adapt the lesson to focus on other types of animal
digestive systems, such as hindgut fermenters
(horses and guinea pigs) and avian (poultry)
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4ANIMAL DIGESTION ACTIVITY
20. Rotate through the teams three times to help
everyone remember the information.
21. Finally, challenge the group to think about how
their own livestock animals digest food. Ask for
volunteers to name an animal species they’re
raising and a type of food that is relatively easy for
that species to digest. Do the same for food types
that are harder for their animals to digest.
digestive systems. You could use many of the same
steps with only limited adjustments.
 Have the stomach compartment teams build
models of their compartment using only objects
they can find in the room or area. Give them 1
minute to plan, 2 minutes to find materials and
build their models, and 30 seconds per team to
present their models and explain to the whole
group what their stomach compartment does.
 Adjust how quickly the digestive process happens
in the participants’ model stomachs by altering the
bread that is being “digested.”
• To speed up the process, remove the bread
crust from the white bread before placing it in
the plastic bag.
• To slow down the process and give yourself an
opening to talk about the food types that are
harder to digest, such as roughages, consider
using whole wheat or other whole grain bread.
• Divide the larger group into three teams of
equal sizes and give the members of each team
one type of bread. That is, one team would have
white bread with crusts, another white bread
without crusts and another whole wheat or
other whole grain bread. After the 2 minutes
of “digesting” (squeezing) the bread, lead a
discussion comparing the results of the action
on the different types of bread.
 Arrange a group field trip to the Michigan State
University Dairy Teaching and Research Center
to examine the rumen of a fistulated cow. (A
fistulated cow has had a “window” surgically
implanted in its side to allow researchers to reach
in and remove some of the contents of its rumen
for study.)
 4ANIMAL DIGESTION ACTIVITY

REFERENCES & RESOURCES:

Canadian Museum of Nature (2011). Ruminant GI tract [3-D video]. Retrieved
from youtube.com/watch?v=SVNNJf_28KE&feature=context&context=C36
39844ADOEgsToPDskI2WscWco3nbNz1EQVG6dAv
Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology Education, Curriculum and
Instructional Materials Center. (n.d.). Agriscience principles and applica-
tions: Unit 1: Animal nutrition and digestion, (p. 15). Retrieved from www.
okcimc.com
Petersen, K. E. (2014). Biology 453 mammalian digestive system photos.
Seattle: University of Washington, Department of Biology. Retrieved from
courses.washington.edu/chordate/453photos/gut_photos/mammal_
digestive_photos.htm
Radunz, A. (2012). Back to basics: Ruminant digestive system [blog post].
Madison: University of Wisconsin–Extension, Wisconsin Beef Information
Center. Retrieved from fyi.uwex.edu/wbic/2012/01/18/back-to-basics-
ruminant-digestive-system

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS:
Author
Julie Thelen, 4-H Livestock and Veterinary Science Educator, Michigan
State University Extension

Thank You
Thank you to Dr. Karen E. Petersen, Senior Lecturer, Department
of Biology, University of Washington, for permission to reprint the
stomach compartment photos in the resource sheet.
Thank you to the Oklahoma Department of Career and Technology
Education, Curriculum and Instructional Materials Center, for
permission to reprint the hog and calf digestive system diagrams from
Agriscience Principles and Applications, Unit 1: Animal Nutrition and
Digestion.
This bulletin was produced by ANR Communications (anrcom.msu.edu).
Animal Digestion – A Stomach At Work © 2014 by
Michigan State University Board of Trustees. 4-H
and Cooperative Extension System groups and other
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contact 4-H Youth Development, 108 Agriculture
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The Basics of the Ruminant Digestive System
Digestion
The process of breaking down food
in the mouth, stomach, intestines and
other organs so that it can be used by
the body.
Figure 1. A diagram of the monogastric
digestive system of swine. (Courtesy of
the Oklahoma Department of Career and
Technology Education, Curriculum and
Instructional Materials Center)
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4A STOMACH AT WORK RESOURCE SHEET
Introduction
In general, livestock animals have one of two major types of digestive
systems: monogastric or simple (see fig. 1) and ruminant or complex
(see fig. 2). Monogastric animals include swine, horses, chickens and
other poultry. Ruminant animals include cattle, sheep and goats. Table
1 lists a few of the major differences between monogastric and rumi-
nant digestive systems.
Table 1. Major differences between monogastric and ruminant digestive
systems
Difference Monogastric Ruminant
digestive digestive
system system
Number of stomach compartments 1 4
Number of times food is chewed Several
Once
times
Efficiency in digesting plants and plant Highly
Limited
byproducts developed
Ruminant animals chew their food several times through a process
called “rumination” or “chewing the cud.” When a ruminant animal
such as a cow takes a bite of grass or other food, the animal chews
the food just enough so it can be swallowed. The food then travels
from the mouth down the esophagus to the rumen (the first and
largest stomach compartment). From there, it moves to the second
compartment, the reticulum. Later, the cow can regurgitate the food
(now called a “bolus” or “cud”) to chew it again to continue breaking
down the plant fibers.
The stomach compartments of a ruminant animal are much larger
than the stomach of a monogastric animal because it takes ruminants
longer to ferment, mix and digest the roughage they’ve eaten. They
need plenty of room in their stomachs for all of that to happen.
Figure 2. A diagram of the ruminant
digestive system of cattle. (Courtesy of
the Oklahoma Department of Career and
Technology Education, Curriculum and
Instructional Materials Center)
 4A STOMACH AT WORK RESOURCE SHEET

Four Stomach Compartments

The stomach of a ruminant animal has four compartments. In the
order that food travels through them, they are the rumen, reticulum,
omasum and abomasum. Each compartment has a distinct function
and appearance. They’re described here.

The Rumen
The rumen (see fig. 3) is the largest compartment of the ruminant
stomach – it can store up to 50 gallons of digested materials. Food Figure 3. A close-up of a rumen. (Photo: Dr.
is fermented in the rumen, because the environment is anaerobic Karen E. Petersen, Department. of Biology,
(has no oxygen). That allows for increased microbial action and high University of Washington.)
concentrations of bacteria (“rumen bugs”). The rumen is capable of
changing poor-quality protein (such as the nitrogen in grass) to a
good-quality microbial protein. To aid in this process, the rumen is
very selective about how quickly particles can move from one stom-
ach compartment to another. If a roughage is difficult to digest, the
rumen will extend fermentation time to allow for further mechanical
breakdown through the process of cud chewing. The rumen has fin-
gerlike projections called “papillae” that increase the surface area on
which microorganisms do their work. When a cow eructates (belches),
it’s releasing fermentation gas (mostly carbon dioxide and methane).
Figure 4. A close-up of a reticulum. (Photo:
The Reticulum (Honeycomb) Dr. Karen E. Petersen, Department. of Biology,
The reticulum (see fig. 4) is attached to the rumen and consists University of Washington.)
of bands of smooth muscle. The walls of the reticulum look like
honeycombs, which give it the nickname “the honeycomb.” Its main
functions are to first detect large feed particles that need to be broken
down further, and second to regurgitate or force those particles back
up the esophagus to the mouth so they can be chewed and then
swallowed again. Cows have an unfortunate habit of accidentally
ingesting hardware such as nails and bailing wire. These foreign
objects usually wind up in the reticulum and sometimes have to be
surgically removed.

The Omasum Figure 5. A close-up of an omasum. (Photo:

Many folds or layers of muscle (called “plies”) make up the omasum Dr. Karen E. Petersen, Department. of Biology,
(see fig. 5). These folds increase the compartment’s surface area, University of Washington.)
which helps it absorb nutrients from feed and water. The omasum
squeezes water from the feed particles and continues to break them
down into smaller particles.

The Abomasum (True Stomach)

The abomasum (see fig. 6) is called the “true stomach” because it’s
the equivalent of the stomach of a monogastric animal. This is where
acids and enzymes (digestive juices) mix with and prepare feed for
enzyme breakdown and absorption in the small intestine. It has a very
low (acidic) pH. This is the feed’s last stop before entering the small
intestine where most nutrient absorption will take place.
Figure 6. A close-up of an abomasum.
(Photo: Dr. Karen E. Petersen, Department. of
Biology, University of Washington.)

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